


Casualties IV

by dormiensa



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Azkaban, F/M, Healers, Ministry of Magic, Politics, Post-Hogwarts, Psychological Trauma, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-19 16:09:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8216215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dormiensa/pseuds/dormiensa
Summary: Healers Granger and Bones have been sent to solve a mystery of strange, erratic behaviour among a certain population of wizards.





	

The place gave her the creeps.  
  
Walking down the slimy cobble-stone floors, hearing the eerie echoes off the stone walls, she understood how Edmond Dantes felt being imprisoned in such a dreary place for fourteen years. Even now, in the absence of the Dementors, Azkaban was still a fearsome place. The dankness, the lack of critters, the roar of the waves that filtered through the tiny barred windows: this was a place built for despair.   
  
When the problem had first been reported to the Ministry, it was ignored. It was a few of the high-security prisoners—their consciences had probably awoken for the first time in decades, let them make peace with themselves. But when the problem expanded to affect every prisoner in the fortress, it was worth investigating. It was unthinkable to bring the prisoners to St. Mungo's, and so, Hermione and Susan had been volunteered to look into the matter.   
  
The uniform symptoms seemed at first like poison-induced madness: screams of pain and terror, cold sweats, seizures, often incoherent ramblings all occurring after the evening meal. But thorough testing of the food showed no obvious traces of any of the known poisons that caused these symptoms. And examination of the food preparation, the cooking utensils, even the stores of the food supplier revealed nothing. Both of them had scoffed at the suggestion that Azkaban was haunted. The prison hadn't always been guarded by Dementors, and old records showed no hint that haunting had been an issue. Their own suggestion that some form of Dark Arts could be involved was met with ridicule by both the Azkaban Warden and the Ministry. All the most prominent Dark Arts practitioners were currently locked away in their cells and unable to access a wand.   
  
Nonetheless, there was something oddly familiar about this case, and it nagged at Hermione, though she had yet to it figure out. Visiting the prison on top of her usual patient responsibilities had left her with little time to even sleep, so she had not had a chance to consult some texts. Luckily, Healer Lesley would be returning from holiday next week. She would ask for some time off to focus on the problem.  
  


***

  
By the time she had signed off her shift and reached home, Hermione was exhausted. She managed to bathe before dragging her weary body to bed.   
  
She was woken in the middle of the night by a recurrent nightmare that had stopped bothering her for some time. Why was she re-living that horrible night at Malfoy Manor now? Draco had helped her conquer those memories when he helped her retrace her steps, interchanging soothing words of encouragement with ardent kisses, replacing bad memories with pleasant ones. She willed herself back to sleep only to wake up an hour later, having seen Draco being _Crucio'd_ by his crazy Aunt and being forced to drink from a basin filled with a green poison that made him beg to be Avada'd. But that hadn't been Draco, it had been Dumbledore. Why—?  
  
She knew she would not sleep another wink, so she got up and began writing a detailed report on everything she had observed and discussed with Susan—every symptom, clue, thought, theory, she wrote it all down. Without knowing why, she also wrote down everything she could remember from her two dreams.  
  


***

  
The texts had turned up nothing useful.   
  
She now knew more than she ever cared to about the different types of magical poisons. She began to have an inkling of Professor Snape's and Draco's reverence for the subtleties in the different types of potions. There truly were very slow, very cruel ways to die. But none of the poisons, alone or in combination, explained all the symptoms. They especially did not explain the mad ramblings. The ramblings reminded her of what she'd read in books about prisoners confessing to crimes they did not commit while under extreme torture.   
  
She returned the books to their shelves inside the Ministry's library.  
  
It was while she was feeding Crookshanks that she recalled her own personal stash of references. She had locked them away after the Second War because she did not want to be reminded of those harrowing months. She also did not want them to be a constant reminder of the beloved Headmaster who had bequeathed them to her. But if her dream was any indication—not that she believed in dreams, but anything was worth a try at this point—she should perhaps try to browse the texts again.   
  


***

  
Harry could not understand why she was interrogating him about that night in the cave with Dumbledore after all this time. But she insisted that there was something about what happened that night that was the key to solving the Azkaban madness problem. The Aurors had, of course, been sent to investigate, but when no clues were found, the case had been summarily dismissed. Their department already had its hands full trying to maintain order and gathering up the last remaining supporters and affiliates of Voldemort and bringing them to trial.  
  
It took Harry some time to recall everything, for Hermione had been persistent about every detail. What spells exactly had Dumbledore used to try to displace the potion in the basin? What colour and shape was the basin? What kind of chalice did he conjure? What were his exact words after he went mad? Did it seem like he was confessing or being tortured into confession?  
  
Finally, not satisfying Hermione enough and also not wanting to re-live the trauma any longer, Harry pulled out the memory and let Hermione watch it.   
  
She was very quiet and thoughtful after coming out of the Pensieve. She kissed Harry on the cheek and suggested that he store the memory away in a safe place. She apologized for giving him pain. She couldn't explain why she had put him through the suffering because she needed to check up on a few more facts. But she thought that she had the beginnings of a theory.   
  
She reminded him to take a Sleeping Potion that night.  
  


***

  
She discussed her theory with Draco. He agreed that her theory was sound, and after a quick search of the Manor's library, he produced a slim volume that proved it. She gave him a quick kiss and traveled by Floo to St. Mungo's, where she went in search of Susan.  
  
After being presented with her research, a stunned Susan agreed that Hermione had hit upon the truth. But how could they prove it?   
  
Hermione smiled and produced a small bottle with a nozzle. If Veritaserum could be distilled into a colourless liquid, then surely it could be manipulated into a perfume that could be sprayed? They could easily justify that the moldiness of the prison was too much for them and that they needed something to ward off the smell.   
  
And so, they returned to Azkaban and interrogated the staff.  
  


***

  
The trial was finally over. It had been of short duration, but the psychological trauma would take much longer to recover from.  
  
The kitchen staff and two of the prison guards had not only admitted to the crime, they had been adamant that they were justified. Why allow Death Eater scum to live when so many innocents had perished? The new Ministry was soft, thinking itself so smugly self-righteous by "taking the high road" and giving fair trials when what these whoresons deserved was a taste of their own medicine. And since the Ministry was too gutless, the Azkaban staff had taken matters into their own hands.  
  
An old journal passed down the generations had supplied the technique of dissolving and trapping a Dementor into a potion containing traces of strychnine. Because the rat poison left about the kitchen was also strychnine-based, the kitchen staff could easily dismiss it as unintentional contamination. But the combination of _essence du Dementor_ and strychnine would force the Death Eaters to face the horrors of their innumerous crimes for months before the poison finally killed them. They were providing a service to the community, and how were they being repaid?  
  
The prisoners were led away by disgusted and horrified Aurors. Their sentence: life-long imprisonment in the same place they had been employed, but they would be _Obliviated_ to make them harmless. It was the harshest sentence the new Wizengamot could pass.   
  


***

  
While a cure for strychnine poisoning was quickly and easily administered, the alleviating of the damage left by _essence du Dementor_ was much more tricky. It was impossible to capture a Patronus, even a corporeal one, in potion form. And getting the prisoners to conjure a Patronus to counteract the effects was even more useless. Even with support from Draco's colleagues at the Department of Mysteries, Hermione and Susan were at a loss.   
  
In the end, it was Harry who came up with the solution. He reminded Hermione that the only way to mend a fractured soul that had been turned into a Horcrux was repentance. Even if the original soul could no longer be made whole, at least the remaining parts could achieve some peace of mind. Voldemort had refused to repent, but surely the prisoners weren't so far gone? And while they may not be able to fully assuage all fears enhanced by the Dementor taint, at least they could help ease the fears that stemmed from guilt and regret, which would be at the foremost of the prisoners' minds.   
  
The cure was successful though not complete. The prisoners still faced life-long imprisonment and the psychological consequences of their past actions. They were far from happy. But they were grateful that the new order had shown them mercy, a concept that had been foreign to their old master.


End file.
